Alstom has created a new innovation center for green rail mobility solutions, which will be located at its Americas headquarters in St-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, Canada.
This was a key commitment made by the group at the time of the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, completed in January 2021. The innovation center's main mission will be to develop the future platforms for green hybrid, battery or hydrogen propulsion technologies specifically tailored to the North American rail freight and passenger market and, in doing so, meet the sector's decarbonization needs.
It will be led by Éric Rondeau, who has a proven track record in the field of transport electrification and recently worked as senior strategic advisor to Investissement Québec International and the Quebec Ministry of Economy and Innovation to develop and deploy the Quebec battery industry. The center's installation in St-Bruno will ensure synergy through its approximately 500-plus Alstom engineers currently working on the site, as well as to dedicated prototyping facilities. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art virtual and augmented reality equipment, enabling it to optimize its activities to develop future green propulsion platforms.
"Alstom offers the most comprehensive range of green solutions to support its customers' environmental efforts. We will now expand our capacity with products specifically tailored to the geographic, climatic and regulatory realities of the North American market. Quebec's assets and business environment, combined with our design and engineering expertise here in St-Bruno, provide us with a unique environment to innovate and grow," said Michael Keroullé, president of Alstom Americas.
Depending on its mandates, the center could create up to approximately 80 jobs within a few years. The center's engineers will work closely with key players in Quebec's research and innovation sector, as well as with industrial partners in the Quebec battery and hydrogen industry. In particular, the center will work with the Hydrogen Research Institute (HRI) of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) on the preconditions for the success of the refueling and operating ecosystem for hydrogen propulsion. It will also participate in McGill University's Sustainable Growth Initiative, a think tank aimed at providing companies and governments with innovative solutions to accelerate the green transition in transport.
"Unlike Europe or Asia, the rail network in Canada and the US is barely one percent electrified. It is used by 27,000 diesel locomotives every day, which is a significant proportion of the carbon footprint of our companies. Efforts to make this mode of transport greener must be stepped up, in particular by providing public decision-makers and our customers with proven electric propulsion technologies. It will be this innovation center's role to develop these new innovative platforms or to adapt them to meet the challenges of the region,” said Rondeau.
